Friday, January 23, 2015

34 Weeks of Clean! Week 4- Fridge, Freezers and Floors!

OK, friends, we are still moving our way through the kitchen and hopefully by now you are starting to feel in better control of this area. After all, let's face it, it a place we spend an awful lot of time. Don't lose your momentum quite yet, we are almost done!

This week - Fridge, Freezers, and Floors!

Did you notice "freezer" was plural? That is because we have several. Three to be exact. Remember that we butcher our own chickens, beef, and pork with the help of some friends? Well, we had to have somewhere to put all of that meat so we invested in a third freezer this year. Anywho, more for me to clean.

So, some tips-

Start high and end low! In other words- fridge and freezer first, floors last. Here is why-

Which leads us to the second tip - do not put open cans back in your fridge. Take the time to put the contents in sealed containers. Not only safer food storage, but cleaner!

Clean out when your stock is at its lowest. Make your life easier by having less to move out while you wipe down shelf surfaces and bins! Again, I use this homemade multi-cleaner, but do what makes you happy. Do every surface, inside and out, and do not forget the dusty top.

Check expiration dates when returning things to the shelves. I did not find one expired thing - but then again, my mom just spent a month with us so no telling how much she threw away when I wasn't looking! ;)

Designate a space for things! This is what happens when you do not -

Leftovers get lost in the clutter, do not get eaten and then have to be thrown out resulting in WASTE! Please tell me I am not alone in this!

Make an inventory of your freezer space. This may not be an issue if you keep little frozen food on hand, but for us, I have seen it is a must. Usually I am a paper kind of gal, but after seeing our farm friends' method, I was sold!

Yep, dry-erase lists on the outside of the freezers! At a glance I can see what I have and, if I can ever remember to leave the marker there, I can quickly change the amount when I take something out. Someone remind me to attach a pen with a string to the door handle or something!

After cleaning the inside, do not forget the outside. Yes, even the top! I know, scary, right?!

Before!

After!

I will say I am not a fan of things all over the fridge. For me, it adds to the clutter and makes me start to feel a little crazy after a while. BUT, right now our fridge front is a monument of love, holding notes of encouragement, cards, and scripture to get us through our current situation. For now, that love from friends trumps clutter and makes me smile every time I look at it! But for you, this may be a time that you want to clear off all the stuff hanging on your fridge for a nice clean look, or at least a clean slate for the new year.

And then - the dreaded floors. Yes, most of us do our floors weekly, at least, but we are trying to do some deep cleaning this time!

-Stick the rugs in the washing machine!

-Move out anything that is on the floor!

-Do the baseboards first, then the nooks and crannies. Since our steam cleaner does not always seem to hit those spots, we, meaning my oldest, did the floor by hand this time around.

And an extra throw in at the last minute- we took this time to wipe down the trash can on the outside and clean the inside.

This week for fun, Kemi from Homemaking Organized has made a Cooking Substitutions List just for you! You know - for when you are right in the middle of a recipe and realize that you do not have a key ingredient. Anyone? Pop on over and grab it for FREE- I think you are going to like it! I would recommend you stick it in a page protector and hang it inside one of those newly clean cabinets!

That's it for this week! Now it is time for you to share how you did last week on your kitchen cabinets and drawers. Link up with us or feel free to leave us a comment! We want to be able to cheer you on. Plus, we are nosy! ;) I have already seen a few pictures floating around out there in Facebook land and you all are amazing!

8 comments:

Your wipe off lists look handy. I have a helpful tip for the top of the fridge- lay a few layers of newspaper (we cut pieces of unprinted paper from end-rolls) on top of the fridge to catch the dust that rapidly accumulates there, then just remove the paper as needed for easy clean-up.

I like the idea to use a dry erase marker on the freezer. Does it come off easily after it has been there a while? I've tried a sticky note, but never was able to keep up with the in and out. It would be a good way to track the foods that you need to use up from your freezer though. Then you could easily work them into your meal plan.